LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 18 Mines Need Slaves (4)
After Jaeyoung's video was uploaded. A new wind of change began to blow in Baron Mikhail's estate.
“ironstone! ironstone!”
“Don’t you have a pickaxe?”
“Does anyone know how to get to Mt. Pagon Mine?”
Players with pickaxes in their hands started running towards Pagon Mountain, shouting iron ore.
“what? Why are there so many miners all of a sudden?”
The blacksmiths who were sitting calmly in the village. They tilted their heads as they suddenly saw people with pickaxes appearing one after another.
“You don’t know that, uncle? Iron ore is money.”
“yes? Iron ore?”
“Oh, look for the video later. I'm busy.”
A user who looks like a wizard just by looking at the equipment he is wearing. However, it was really strange to see him running with a pickaxe in his hand and shouting for iron ore.
However, seeing people in various outfits other than the wizard user running away holding pickaxes, they closed the game one by one and connected to Arpendia. It wasn't difficult to find Jaeyoung's video, which became a popular video. And it didn't take long for them to see the video and immediately grab a pickaxe and shout for iron ore and run to Pagon Mountain.
* * *
“Hahahahahahaha!”
Baron Mikhail laughing heartily. The person drinking tea in front of him is none other than Jaeyoung. The baron looked at Jaeyoung and asked.
“What the hell did you do? Those heavy-ass adventurers running to the mine like crazy? Not just idiots who only pretend to be blacksmiths, but also adventurers of other professions.”
Users rushed like crazy because they were anxious to mine iron ore overnight. Baron Mikhail, who received a report from the mine manager on the unbelievable amount of daily mining, couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard he tried.
“That is easy. It can be done by stimulating the primal desires of humans.”
“A primal desire?”
At the baron's question, Jaeyoung made a circle with his fingers and said.
“Money, what. If it's not mining, but it's something that can make money, there must be a lot of people who will do anything, even if it's not this? We are all dogs and pigs of capitalism.”
His face did not understand the meaning of the last words, but he liked the direction they were going, so Baron Mikhail said with a big smile.
“Ha ha ha ha! I don't know what you mean, but now I know the way I've been doing it's wrong!”
Baron Mikhail, who valued blacksmiths and artisans. For them, the baron had been directly operating the huge mine in Mount Pagon. Hiring miners, paying wages to them, and putting all the energy and effort into providing a stable supply of iron ore for the manor, but the results were not good.
“Why do you do the hard, dangerous and exhausting work of a miner?”
“That’s right, the wages aren’t that high either.”
“Whether you dig a lot or a little, the salary is the same anyway, right? Let’s do it roughly.”
The income was not good, and the same wages were received regardless of the amount of digging, so the mines in Mount Pagon had not been very profitable until now.
“From now on, give the miners a minimum wage and let them take as much as they dig. Otherwise, there will only be more idlers pretending to work.”
“That word touches my heart. A lazy man who pretends to work...”
Unlike Baron Mikhail, who is not good at economics, Jaeyoung's advice, which combines the latest economic ideas of modern times, was like a huge culture shock and innovation to him. I began to listen to his story with such enthusiasm that I asked the attendant next to me to write it down.
“Then what about iron ore prices? As you said, since the price is not controlled and left alone, it is rising so fast that it cannot be compared to before. Isn’t this a problem?”
Not long ago, the price of iron ore exploded from 10 bronze to 15 bronze. It was also the result of Baron Mikhail using his hands knowingly and unknowingly to suppress the price increase. However, due to Jaeyoung's operation, the iron ore that had risen to 18 bronze soon rose to 20 bronze. It seemed that the existing blacksmiths were protesting at the price that had doubled in an instant, but Jaeyoung was calm.
“Ignore it.”
“Ignore?”
“yes. Even if you buy iron ore at that price anyway, isn't it a situation where you can absolutely lose money on the works made by skilled blacksmiths... no, important Master level blacksmiths?”
“Is that so...?”
Even for the same raw material, there is a world of fierce competition where different prices are given depending on how and by whom it is refined. It was also true that there was not much to say about the workshops of artisans, where Baron Mikhail had to pay the most attention anyway. Because it was the ambiguous workshops that reacted most sensitively to this price increase.
“Anyone who buys will buy it even if the price goes up. Rather, it's not enough to appreciate that I bought it at a much cheaper price than the original price. And if this price increase is so dissatisfying...”
“If it is dissatisfied?”
Baron Mikhail looks at him with curious eyes. Jaeyoung, who felt burdened because his face was so close, cleared his throat and said.
“Tell them to dig it up and write it. A thirsty person digs a well, right?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! That's good. No, that's what it is.”
Baron Mikhail laughed heartily as if he was having fun. Looking at him like that, Jaeyoung held out a piece of paper to Baron Mikhail.
“hmm? What is this?”
“It's a contract.”
“contract?”
Baron Mikhail stares blankly at Jaeyoung with eyes asking what kind of contract it is. However, after hearing the contents from Jaeyoung, he felt a sense of awe beyond greatness and asked him seriously.
“Hey... don’t you want to just work under me instead of doing this? I will treat you so as not to upset you. I will leave the treasurer position vacant.”
“That's a bit...”
Baron Mikhail's proposal, his eyes shining as if he had met a coveted talent. He rejected it roundly, but even after that, Jaeyoung had to suffer for a long time from Baron Mikhail.
* * *
Kaang Kaang!
Unlike before, many users flocked to the mines of Mount Pagon. The place was full of people singing strange work songs and enthusiastically wielding pickaxes.
“Oh yea! Silver ore obtained!”
“Ohhhh! Congratulations!”
“Hey, why doesn’t iron ore come out like this?”
“It has to be well positioned. It doesn’t seem to come out well when people dig a lot.”
People who are working on mining all over the place. Passing between them, Jaeyoung was going deep into the mine.
“Master, what the hell is that contract about?”
Tan was watching the conversation with the lord. I asked as if I still did not understand the contents of the contract.
“Instead of paying the mine usage fee, it says that you have to mine and sell a certain amount of iron ore. What do you not understand?”
“Then why is it beneficial? Isn’t it rather profitable to pay the mine usage fee?”
Tan didn't understand why it was profitable to just mine and sell a certain amount of iron ore instead of paying the usage fee, but Jae-young said with an evil smile.
“Mining... it's not that easy.”
“what?”
“A normal game... No, contrary to what I thought, to mine, you have to choose a spot where a lot of iron ore is buried, and you have to hit the grain accurately to get the ore. It also consumes a lot of stamina. If I'm unlucky, can I get 10 pickaxes even if I swing the pickaxe for an hour?”
It's understandable why blacksmiths don't go mining. Although it is corrected to some extent when the skill rank increases, it is absolutely impossible to achieve the efficiency that Jaeyoung showed in the video.
“I didn’t know about the pickaxe you gave me at first, but now I know why it is a unique item. Did you like it?”
From magic stones to precious minerals such as gold and silver, you can get them with mining skills, but the odds are really bad. However, thanks to the ‘Devil Destroyer' received from Tan, various minerals popped out with a fairly high probability. And I was able to make a deceptive video that makes people who don't know about it roll their eyes.
“Wait...then how much money can a normal adventurer earn...?”
“Um... when I experimented with a normal pickaxe...” The result of rolling my head thinking about the amount obtained after digging for an hour.
“Forty silver?”
A difference of 4 times the efficiency. It might have been because everyone had a low skill rank, but it was a fact that would inevitably be revealed as time passed. That means mining isn't such a good way to make money.
“Wait a minute, then the contract can’t be...”
People who are dreaming of swollen gold to get a share through mining. Realizing that they were tricking and forcing them to voluntarily sign a document that was tantamount to a slave contract, Tan looked at him in amazement.
“why?”
“No... I've heard that humans love slaves, but it's the first time I've seen them do it this way.”
Tan looks at her with strange eyes. To Tan, Jaeyoung taught him a modern theory.
“There is such a thing in the world.”
“When you come in, do as you please, but not when you go out.”
Tan frowned at Jaeyoung's words and thought deeply. But he said with a twinkle in his eyes as if he liked it.
“Wow, that’s amazing! Is this kind of method fresh even among demons? Stimulate human desires as much as possible, and through this, make them sign a contract to become slaves voluntarily.
Tan, who was contemplating something and scribbled something in red letters on a gloomy piece of paper he had taken out from somewhere as if he was quite happy, soon said with pride.
“master! I didn't see you like that, but I saw it again. Is there any other wicked method other than this?”
“.....”
It felt strange that something wickedness was recognized by the devil, but Jaeyoung tried to ignore it and changed the topic.
“Stop talking nonsense... Where the hell do you want to go?”
After talking with the baron, Tan insisted on going to the mine. Although he had come because he was so angry, he was starting to get annoyed by Tan's actions, which kept going deeper without saying anything in detail.
“We are almost there. wait.”
The place where the bullet stopped is the place where the mine was blocked. There, Tan started to wander around, fiddling with the wall somewhere.
“What are you doing....?”
Tan suddenly stuck to the wall and started wandering around. Ignoring Jaeyoung who was staring at him in bewilderment, he closed his eyes as if he was seriously looking for something.
“At first I wondered why I was used to this place, but after coming to a place called this mine, I understood. It’s a place I’ve been to before.”
“You saw it?”
Tan tells an even more incomprehensible story. However, as if he had found it, he patted a certain spot.
“Here, here! I found it!”
“What are you looking for?”
Tan tells an unknown story. However, he looked at Jaeyoung with bright eyes and asked.
“Can’t you dig here for me, owner?”
“what?”
“I know when I see it. It’s probably not a business that will hurt you either, so pretend to be deceived and hurry up.”
At that, Jaeyoung looked at Tan with suspicious eyes, then sighed and took out a pickaxe and started swinging it.
Caang Caang Caang-
Jjaeng-
A rock wall that breaks into chunks with the sound of a pickaxe. However, it was not long before something caught on the pickaxe with a sharp sound.
“What is this?”
After arranging the rock wall around the area where it was caught, what appeared in front of Jaeyoung was a huge iron gate. It is a door that shines softly as if it is not a simple iron door. Next to Jaeyoung, who was staring blankly at the door, Tan muttered to himself with an evil smile.
“Finally found. Are you watching, you damn chicken wings?”